The Princess and the Peasant
by drhorrible61
Summary: Princess Zuko's life was never simple, but the Avatar's Water Tribe friend isn't making anything simpler.  The baby isn't either. Will she be able to get through her messed up life unharmed?  Fem!Zuko/Sokka
1. Chapter 1

_AN: This story starts at the Western Air Temple and continues from there._

**_I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender_**

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><p>Today is the day, the day I join the Avatar. Joining him is far from the best thing a loyal Fire Nation citizen could do. Uncle would do it though.<p>

Uncle... I betrayed him. I regret it more than anything I've ever done. I hope he's okay, and I hope he'd be proud that his niece is learning from her mistakes. It took her a while though.

"Hello, Zuko here.

No that's lame," I mutter to myself.

"Play to your strengths Zuko... You're hot, but I don't think seducing the Avatar would help me, the Water Tribe girl would probably want to kill me. educe the Water Tribe boy? No that's stupid, that wouldn't help me with joining the group."

This is going to be harder than I thought. Should I mention Roku? He could be helpful, but I don't know if that would be enough to convince them. I'm hungry. I should find something to eat. I feel like I'm going to hurl, but that's probably just the morning sickness. Maybe the pregnancy card could help me; it's hard to say no to a knocked up single girl. I'm not willing to chance anything in the woods with the baby so I guess I should just go down there.

I see them flying closer. This is it. This is the moment. I'm worried but I have to try. I can't tell what's causing my urge to puke: my nerves or the morning sickness. Either way, I just want to get this over with as soon as possible.

"I think that will have to wait," says the blind girl. They all turn towards me.

"Hello, Zuko here. I heard you flying up there so I thought I'd wait for you down here," I say. That's definitely bile I taste. Power through Zuko.

"I just wanted you to know that I uh-have changed and that I'm good now. And I think I should join your group. Oh and I can teach firebending, to you," I motion towards the Avatar. I can feel it coming up. Please stop doing that baby. "See I-"

"You want to what now?" asks the blind girl.

"You can't think we could possibly trust you after all you've done," says the other girl.

"Yeah, all you've ever done is try to hunt us down," says the Water Tribe boy. I don't know how much longer I can hold it in.

"I've done some good things," I say, my vision blurring. "I could have taken your bison in Ba Sing Se but I set him free." Ba Sing Se brings up a lot of painful memories. The bison licks me.

"Appa does seem to like her," says the blind girl in surprise.  
>"She probably just covered herself in honey so Appa would lick her, I'm not buying it," says the Water Tribe boy.<p>

"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me and I know I've made some mistakes in the past." This is more true than they know. I really need to be more careful in my choice of guys in the future.

"Like when you attacked our village," states the boy.

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down," chimes in the Water Tribe girl.

"Look I admit I've done some terrible things but I'm trying to fix them. I shouldn't have attacked the Water Tribe and I should have never sent that assassin after you." I realize my mistake a moment later.

"Wait, you sent Combustion Man after us?" the older boy says.

"Well that's not his name but-" I say, a buzzing starting in my ear.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to insult your _friend!_"

I want to say something in protest but before I can everything fades to black.

Sokka p.o.v.

"What should we do?" Aang says, panicking. Katara cuts in.

"I don't know, Aang. We can't just leave her."

"Especially not when she's knocked up," says Toph.

"She's what?" I say in panic. This can't be good.

"Pregnant Sokka. There were two heartbeats so either she was pregnant or she had a koala-sloth on her back."

"Get her into a bed Aang, we'll discuss this more afterwards." orders Katara.

"What do you think we should do Katara?" I ask my sister. I don't think I can just ditch her in this condition, but I don't think Katara will see it that way.

"I don't know Sokka."

"I think we should ask her to explain herself when she wakes up," says Aang, walking back into the room.

"What's that on your shoulder Aang?" asks Katara.

"Vomit," he answers. "I'm going to take a shower."

"You can't keep avoiding this Aang. Zuko may not be the firebending teacher for you but there has to be someone," says Katara.

"I wouldn't rule her out so quickly Katara. She never once lied to us," says Toph. I speak up.

"No offense Toph, but after Azula I don't know if I trust your lie detection anymore."

"But claiming she saved Appa seems like an odd lie. She seemed quite tense at the mention of Ba Sing Se though."

"Regardless of the honesty of her words we should wait for her to wake up before we make any decisions," says Aang.

I don't see this ending well. A pregnant firebender in your midst can do that to you.

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><p><em>AN: Review please.<em>


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

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><p>I wake with a start in a room I don't recognize. I look to my right to see the Water Tribe boy sitting next to me. He's staring at me with scrutiny.<p>

"Sokka, Southern Water Tribe," he says, extending his hand towards me. I shake it awkwardly. He continues, "everyone is waiting to talk to you."

"Your sister didn't seem to be in a mood to talk before," I respond. "How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours. You collapsed and then puked on Aang. And don't take anything Katara says personally, she hasn't taken betrayal well ever since an incident a few months ago."

"That's good to know. I'll make sure not to repeat it should the opportunity present itself. The last time was bad enough," I say nervously.

"I don't think she'll forget that anytime too soon," he says awkwardly. "But we all got through it okay. If you're feeling up to it come out to the courtyard, the group wishes to speak to you."

"I'll be out shortly," I remark, hoping he takes the hint to get out. He does. This is certainly helpful. Maybe I can get their pity. I wish there was another way but I need to keep myself safe for the next six months and here seems to be my best bet.

"Its not like your daddy is going to come back right?" I say to my stomach. I quickly get out of bed and take in my surroundings. My bag is sitting at the foot of the bed but other than that the room seems untouched. My bag seems to have everything in it, but I can't seem to find my swords.

I exit the room and walk to the courtyard. The girl, Katara, is by the fountain playing with the water, the Avatar is chasing his lemur around, and Sokka is talking to the other girl.

"Ah, Zuko, have a seat," welcomes Katara, her voice dripping with venom.

"So when did you get knocked up?" asks Toph. I tense up, I hadn't thought they would figure it out so quickly.

"Toph!" yells Sokka in shock. "We agreed we wouldn't blurt that out randomly!"

"I saw no reason to beat around the bush so I just cut to the chase. So when did it happen?"

"Three months ago," I answer, my mouth getting dry.

"So that would put it before Ba Sing Se," says Sokka.

"Yes. I had realized it shortly before that incident. I made the decision that my baby had a better chance in the palace than she did in the world."

"She?" questions Sokka. "How can you tell?"

"It's just a hunch."

"I don't believe you," pipes up Katara angrily.

"Well I admit I could be wrong and it could be a boy but-"

"Not that," she snaps, "your reason for betraying us!"

"You must understand that I'm the princess and so my baby will be worth something to the royal family. They would make certain she was captured and killed."

"Why?" asks Toph.

"I may have been banished but my child would still be in line for the throne, immediately after me. If I'm out, she would be next in line for the throne and you can't banish members of the royal family unless they directly oppose the Fire Lord. It's one of the few laws the Fire Lord can't overturn, for obvious reasons. So it became clear to me that the best plan was to return home where I would have somewhere safe to raise a baby, but I realized I couldn't stand it there. All I want now is to play my part in ending this war, and I know it's by teaching you firebending."

"I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher," says the Avatar after a moment.

"You won't regret this," I say happily.

"Not so fast," he cuts in. "First I have to ask my friends if its okay with them." He turns to Toph. "Toph?"

"Go ahead and let her join."

"Sokka?"

"I can't in good conscience send a pregnant woman out on her own."

"Katara?"

"I'll go along with whatever you think is right," she answers after a moment.

"I won't let you down, I promi-" I'm cut off by an explosion.

"Its Sparky Sparky Boom Man!" yells Sokka.

"We agreed on Combustion Man remember?" yells Toph at him.

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Someone get me up there," I yell over the explosions. "I'm going to try and get him to stop. I'll see if he'll accept payment."

"I'll do it!" answers Sokka. He motions to me as though to say 'follow me.' I take the hint and follow him to the bison, Appa. We get on and fly to the cliff the assassin is on and land a few yards away.

"Stop!" I yell. "I don't want you chasing the Avatar anymore." He seems to be ignoring me. "I said stop. If you don't stop I won't pay you." At that, he turns to me, planning to attack.

"Okay I'll pay you double to stop."

He inhales in preparation to attack me. I raise my arms to defend myself but the attack never comes. I look up to see a boomerang moving to a point behind me and I realize its Sokka.

"Run!" yells Sokka. I take his advice and run back to the bison. Not a moment too soon because I turn to see an explosion and the assassin is gone.

"So when we tell the story, you created a diversion with firebending and then I threw my boomerang at him. Agreed?"

"Agreed." I answer with a slight smile.

"For the record, I expect to be godfather for that. You owe me." We land back in the courtyard.

"You wish," I answer with a giggle.

"I'll make sure of it, and believe me when I tell you that when I set my mind to something I do it."

"I seem to recall you falling in the snow when you set your mind to stopping me back in the South Pole."

"That was different," he says coldly.

"Sure it was," I respond. "Be warned though, that this will be much harder. I have plenty of choices for godfather."

He begins to ramble about his many accomplishments in an effort to impress me. I think I'm going to like it here.


	3. Chapter 3

**_I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender_**

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><p>I'm starting to wonder why we need firewood if we have a firebender in the group. Zuko claims she can't just maintain like that forever though, so I decided not to push the issue. Its never a good idea to argue with a pregnant woman.<p>

These sticks are pokey and hurt my arm. When I'm done here its back to the temple. Zuko and Aang will hopefully be back by now; they left two days ago and my sister is starting to worry. I keep telling her not to worry but why would she listen to me?

This should be enough wood for the princess to work with. Speaking of which, I'm glad it was Zuko and not Azula. Zuko is the hot one. Even with the pregnancy..._focus Sokka!_

Maybe Zuko knows where they're holding Dad and the rest of the invasion force. I should ask her at some point in the next few days. Freeing Dad will be helpful to us. We need a leader if we want to win. Despite what Aang thinks, waiting until after the Comet is a bad idea so we can't just use trial error until we figure out what works and what doesn't.

Its times like this that I wish I could be more like Jet. He may have been a psychopath, but he was a leader, and a good one. Maybe I can learn from him. What did he say during our field mission...

******

"Sokka, there are three things you need to know to lead," said Jet, as though someone had asked.

"The first is knowing what you've got. You need to able to use your forces properly," continued Jet, chewing on a piece of grass.

"The second?" I asked.

"The second is being able to read your enemy's movements and act accordingly."

"And the last?"

"The last," he said solemnly, "is not being afraid to sacrifice anything to help the greater good."

******

The first two are good, but the third nearly killed a village and who knows what else Jet did before that.

Dad's rules were much simpler.

******

"Dad," I asked, "what makes a good leader?"

"Son, there is one thing that marks a good leader. A good leader is the one who does everything he can to keep his men alive. He knows when the cost is too steep and he knows how to treat his enemies."

"He treats them like the scum they are!" I answered.

"No. He treats them like human beings, because that's what they are."

"I don't understand."

"Don't worry son, you will someday," he answered with a smile on his face.

******

It took a few years, but I finally figured out what he meant. It took an encounter with Jet to figure it out, but I did.

I guess the three things that make a leader are utility, intelligence, and kindness. I can live with that.

******

"Oh no! I didn't think to ask if the dragons wanted to help us fight the Fire Lord!" Aang suddenly yells. "We have to go back."

"No," I say, grabbing the reins from his hand. "We're not bothering the dragons again. I'm not pressing my luck."

"What do we have to lose?"

"Our lives, our new firebending knowledge, a baby? Pick any of those," I answer.

"Fine. Sokka would have let me go back," he snaps, crossing his arms in defiance.

"Well Sokka wouldn't have to face the dragon, he would just steal the magic egg in hopes that it would hatch later."

"Sokka wouldn't- yeah he would."

A few hours passed in silence after that.

"So what did you do during the invasion?" Aang suddenly asks.

"I went to tell my father I was leaving." I answer with a bit of nausea; the bison ride isn't helping the morning sickness at all.

"And how did he take it?"

"He shot lightning at me. I narrowly managed to dodge. The one time my Uncle's technique would be useful and I couldn't use it..."

"What technique?" the Avatar asks, eyes alight.

"Redirecting lightning," I answer flatly.

"Why couldn't you use it? It sounds cool."

"The lightning goes in one arm, through the stomach, and out the other arm. The stomach is out so I couldn't use it. I can still teach you though," I add casually.

"Your father shot his pregnant daughter with lighting?" gasps Aang in shock. "That's messed up!"

"He didn't know...no one did. Uncle didn't even know."

"Oh. Don't worry, I won't spread it," he says cheerfully.

"Yeah, we can't have people thinking the banished princess is a common whore now can we?" I say jokingly.

"I didn't mean it like that!" he splutters hastily.

"I know, you're just an easy target," I laugh.

"Oh right, of course," he says, calming down.

"Did you know that Roku was my great-grandfather?" I ask him.

"No, I didn't. That makes me your great-grandpa, Sifu Hotman!" he says excitedly.

"Aang? What did I tell you?"

"Not to call you that. And that's Grandpa to you now," he states matter-of-factly.

"Don't hold your breath," I reply coolly.

"We Air Nomads can go hours without air!"

I really hope we're close to the Air Temple - I can't handle much more of this.


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender. **

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><p>"Good morning" I say as I enter the the courtyard.<p>

I yawn as I look around. Katara and Toph are the only people to be seen. Zuko and Aang are most likely still working on his firebending training. Haru, the Duke, and Teo are probably out exploring the temple again.

"Morning Sokka," replies Toph, picking her toes. Katara glares at her, disgusted by her unladylike behavior. My sister can be such a pain in the butt sometimes.

"Would you like some breakfast Sokka?" she asks.

At the sound of food being mentioned I quickly make a beeline straight for it. I scoop rice into a bowl and give Katara a quick kiss on the cheek as a sort of "I love and appreciate you" gesture. That seems to brighten her mood a bit. Score one for Sokka. I look up to see that her lighter mood wouldn't last. Zuko and Aang just returned from practicing.

"Wonderful lesson Sifu Hotman," says Aang to Zuko.

"What did I say about Sifu Hotman, Aang?"

"Not to address you as such," replies Aang, dismayed.

"Exactly," says Zuko, somewhat more upbeat than before. "Morning Toph, how are your feet?"

"Fine, got the pine needle out. How are your feet, Preggers? I hear the ankles swell during pregnancy, or at least my mother's did."

"My ankles are fine Toph." She's a little surprised by Toph's concern. "And don't call me Preggers."

"Maybe it only happens when your baby will be born blind?" I suggest. She responds by shifting the earth under my feet, sending my chin straight down to the ground. It hurts more than you would think.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" asks Aang. It's so obvious that he wants to get out and do something.

"Earthbending training!" answers Toph. Aang drops his head in sadness.

"I get him until lunch though," Zuko reminds her.

"And I get him after dinner," Katara adds.

"It looks like you have three girls fighting over you there Aang," I say slyly.

He immediately goes pale. It's definitely worth whatever it is Katara is probably planning to do to me later. Katara is, as usual, politely ignoring Zuko, who is doing the same. Katara can't quite bring herself to outright attack Zuko due to the pregnancy so she just avoids talking to her altogether. This is probably the best arrangement for everyone.

"I want Zuko when you're done with her Aang," I say a few minutes later.

"Why?" asks Aang, as though my answer will determine whether or not he will cede control of her to me.

"I want her to help me plan for our next attack on the palace. Sozin's Comet is coming soon and we need to be ready for it, and Zuko here used to be the fire princess."

"I was? I wasn't aware," she replies in a snarky fashion. Toph and Aang giggle at this.

"Anyway...would you help me?" She mock considers it for a moment.

"Fine," she replies before going back to eating. I watch her for a moment.

"If I were you I would watch the amount of food I was eating, you're getting kind of chubby."

"Sokka, I'm pregnant," she replies as she finishes the bowl.

"Oh yeah I forgot..."

"Come along Aang," she says putting her bowl down, "we have some firebending to practice."

They walk away.

"Have fun jerkbending!" I yell at them as they walk away. That line never gets old.

"So where is the secret river?" Sokka asks me as we look at a map of the capitol. "I can't find it."

"What five year old told you there was a secret river?" I ask. "That's just a rumor that kids spread around."

"Aang learned about it in school," he answers, eating an apple.

"Ah, school," I reply, chuckling. "Most schools in the Fire Nation are rather incompetent."

"I know. They ban dancing!"

"Right, because dancing is such an integral part of life." I roll my eyes. "So where were we?"

"We were talking about how we plan to get in to the city," he answers, taking another bit of his apple. He does so as though any girl would kill to be that apple. Or maybe that's just the hormones talking.

"Right. I suggest we sneak in at night, especially if we have no army."

"I suggested stealing airships but someone thought it was a bad idea," he exclaims, pointing at me.

"Airships need firebenders to work and we have two. Toph can't see the ground up there, so we would have two people capable of attacking. Plus rocks and water from the sky aren't going to do much."

"They wouldn't suspect us! It would be perfect!"

"There are fewer than twenty airships, they would quickly realize that one is missing." I feel a headache coming on.

"Then we destroy the airships before they can be used!"

"That wouldn't wo- wait that might actually work," I stutter, surprised by the intelligence of what he just said.

"Of course it will. We just need to steal blueprints from a ship!"

"Where would we find a ship? We certainly can't get on it while it's air born..."

"I don't know. We would have to do something big enough to guarantee an airship will be left on the ground..." Suddenly an idea strikes me.

"The capitol prison," I exclaim, barely hiding my excitement.

"Why there of all places?" he asks, bewildered.

"There are sure to be airships on hand, there are forces available in the prison, and we're close enough to take out the main fleet before they really know what's going on. If we can pull it off we can secure the entire city during their confusion."

"But it's the capitol, wouldn't it be hard to get in?" he asks, still trying to grasp my plan.

"That's the beauty of it; the prison is far from the rest of the city. It's practically unguarded right now. If a few benders were to attack, the remaining forces would go out to combat the threat."

"Okay your plan holds water, but when would you suggest doing this?"

"A week from now. My father and sister are going to Ba Sing Se in a show of control of the city."

"I guess we should go into more of the specifics of the plan then," he says, somewhat reluctantly.

"You wanted the Fire Princess to help you plan and that's what you got."


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

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><p>"Are we there yet?" Toph asks, picking her nose. I roll my eyes at her before I remember that she can't see.<p>

"No we're not!" Zuko yells from the other side of the balloon. "You will know when we're there from the distinct lack of being in a balloon!"

I look out at the sky and wonder how much longer it will be until we get there. When making the plan I didn't take the time to consider how long this trip would be by balloon. If only Appa could carry more weight without getting tired.

"Well it's not like there's much to do up here!" Toph yells in reply, now stroking Momo.

"Why did we get stuck with the lemur?" Zuko asks. I was wondering that myself.

"Momo likes me best," Toph answers. Momo does look at peace...

"Fine, fine, whatever," Zuko replies, dismayed. I'm trying to stay out of the fight between two highly powerful bending ladies.

"So Zuko, who's the father?" Toph asks. She has already asked it six times since we left and its honestly getting old.

"As I told you the last time, and the times before that, I'm not going to say." Zuko turns away, as though the land will get here faster if she watches for it.

"I still think it's Aang," Toph says offhandedly. I chuckle at this and Zuko seems to be getting a bit red in the ear. 

* * *

><p>Night approaches and we finally arrive. We're a bit away from the prison. Toph seems perfectly content being on land at the moment. Sokka is asleep.<p>

"So Zuko," Toph says as she sits down next to me. "What's your opinion of Sokka?"

"He seems smart enough," I answer, avoiding any other implications she may have had behind that statement.

"I mean your lady-opinion of him as a man," she smirks, clearly seeing what I was doing.

"I don't have such opinions."

"And yet you're pregnant," she notes slyly.

"That was a lapse of judgement. A spur of the moment thing. Nothing more. I never want to see him again."

"Interesting," she exclaims in surprise, "you're telling the truth about that part."

"Oh yes...you're a human lie detector."

"I am. I also think you want to say more, but are hesitant to say something."

I think for a moment, realizing that not a single living soul knows what happened other than him and I. I look back to make sure Sokka is asleep.

"He was special," I spit out after a moment, tears starting to collect. "I spent three months in the Earth Kingdom as a refugee and he was the only person who ever respected me. Everyone else saw a frail girl who needed protection but he saw an equal."

Damn emotions...

"He saw my scar and he knew I was like him. He knew the Fire Nation ruined my life. We 'liberated' some food and gave it to the people who were left with inedible sludge."

"It happened later that night, after everyone else went to sleep."

-

"Hey, Li," he says to me. "I would have thought you were in bed."

"Couldn't sleep. In just a few hours I'll be on the other side of that wall, trapped," I answer, not removing my eyes from the water.

"Why go then?" he asks, leaning his back against the rail.

"I can't abandon my uncle like that. He has always been there for me and I can't leave him now."

"You could make a difference, Li," he moves in, grabbing my arm. "Together we could."

"I said no, Jet!"

I pull away. He then does something I wasn't expecting.

He kisses me, deeply, on the mouth.

-

"The details after are a little fuzzy, but that's the gist of it."

I look out, avoiding her eyes. After a moment I realize there's nothing to avoid, but my eyes spot something else.

"Sokka, wake up!" I shout, shaking him.

"I see Appa. The plan is starting."


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

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><p>"Sokka, wake up!" I hear Zuko yell as I pretend to be asleep. I continue the act for a few moments before "waking up."<p>

"Huh? What happened?" I ask, the confusion in my voice not entirely unforced. To think Jet and Zuko, together! But that's a thought for later when she's not right in front of me.

"In exactly five minutes you and Toph will begin your attack on the prison. Be loud and draw a lot of attention."

"Sokka, we better get closer to the prison if we want to go unnoticed while remaining on schedule," Toph says, who is defiantly looking forward to this. She did not get enough chances to attack large armies during the Invasion.

"Zuko, be careful." I'm certain she'll be fine, but she has a habit of being rash. Its oddly adorable.

Where did that come from? Focus Sokka.

"I will...good luck with your mission. Try not to free any rapists or murderers."

"No promises." She smiles at my attempt at humor.

"Let's go, Sokka," Toph yells. I follow her towards the prison.

"Okay Toph, this will have to be sloppy. One of them needs to be able to get reinforcements." I worry that Toph will be too...thorough.

"I know what to do, Sokka."

Whatever Sokka and Toph did worked well. Within minutes, the war balloon was emptied of most of its crew.

Now seems like as good a time as any to go in.

Getting inside is rather easy, in fact I've encountered no one so far. I'm close to the main deck, the blueprints should be there. I can see them from the doorway. I go inside to grab them. When I get inside the door closes behind me.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here, Zuko," pipes up a familiar voice from behind me.

"Mai."

I walk into the prison to find a large group of unconscious guards. To the side Toph is standing impatiently.

"Impressive." I look around to see the ground is perfectly in tact.

"The walls aren't earth, I had to make do with the bars from one of the cells," she says in reply. "The closest prisoners are still a bit away."

We walk for a few minutes in silence before she speaks again.

"I know you were awake before." I'm taken by surprise. I open my mouth to protest. "Don't bother arguing, you can't fool me."

"Fine, I was awake. So what?"

"I'm just making sure you know not to take advantage of this somehow."

"How would I do that, and why?" I ask, hoping her feet have also gone blind.

"You have a thing for her," she answers in what seems to be a deliberately blank way. "As for how... well you're rather smart, you could figure it out."

"I would never do that!" I protest.

"Then why did you pretend to be asleep?" she asks as we approach the first block of prisoners.

"What are you doing here, Mai?"

"Does it really matter?" I consider the question for a moment.

"I guess it doesn't," I answer, carefully eyeing the other girl. I left Mai a letter when I left and I'm starting to think it was a bad idea.

"If you must know, Azula asked me to oversee the transfer of some prisoners, but as you just admitted it doesn't really matter. Why didn't you tell me you were leaving."

"I did tell you!"

"No you didn't! You left me a letter!" The anger in her voice is clear.

"Because I couldn't! I wouldn't have had the resolve to leave if I had stopped to talk to you."

"Maybe I would have wanted to go with you, Zuko. Maybe I care about you enough to leave everything I know behind for you," she says, suddenly somber.

"I know, which is why I couldn't tell you in person. I wasn't going to drag you into a suicide mission."

"Why did you go then? Why go if you are so certain it would fail?"

"The future I had there was lost when I was banished. I could have left now or I could have waited a few months when they would really have a reason to hunt me," I answer, rubbing my stomach.

"If you think Azula didn't notice you gain a few extra pounds you have forgotten what she's capable of. She believes that she's on to you." I'm taken aback. I wasn't prepared for that.

"If you want to be safe you'll need these," she says, holding up the blueprints.

"How did you know?"

"Because I know you so well," she says slyly. "By the way, most of the troops from the Day of Black Sun were moved out of the city, we have a fighting chance."

"We?" I ask.

"You can't let me be taken prisoner, and I can't go back to Azula, so this is my only choice." She answers with a slight smile. I smile back at her and she moves closer, leaning in.

"I can't do this anymore though," I say before leaving. I'm too conflicted right now and I can't lead Mai on.

That's the least of my worries right now though.


	7. Chapter 7

Finished a chapter!

**I don't own Avatar.**

* * *

><p>"There are prisoners in the next cell." Toph says a few feet ahead of me. I'm still thinking over our conversation from earlier. Could I have a thing for Zuko?<p>

"Get ready, Sokka, and stop angsting." she whispers while leaning against the wall. There must be guards up ahead.

"I'm not angsting!" I complain. She shakes her head in response and charges out. The sound of metal bars twisting reaches my ears.

"All clear!" she yells. I walk around to see a few Water Tribe Warriors continuing on. "They're going to take care of the other guards. You start from this end and I'll work from the other."

I bend over and take the key from the guard's restrained body. This is not the time for this line of thinking. I walk up to a cell and unlock it. Among the men in the cell I see my father.

"I told you we wouldn't be apart for long." I say with a smug look on my face (I think). We stare at eachother before he bridges the gap and hugs me. I return the hug after a moment.

"I didn't expect you so soon, or so loud." he says with a bit of a grin.

"Toph loves her theatrics." I say as I roll my eyes. "We should go release the rest of the army.

-

I walk outside with no particular destination in mind and find myself at the top of a hill overlooking the city. It's hard to ignore the city's beauty. Standing here you can see a Fire Nation worth saving. I hear Toph behind me.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I ask her, turning back to the city.

"I wouldn't say that personally." she respons. I'm about to question her when I realize that the appeal is lost on her.

"Oh, right." We stand in silence before she speaks again.

"We're about to head out to the battle. Look alive, sunshine." she says. I glare at her, and I'm quite certain she can feel my gaze.

"Let's head them off then.

-

We get into the city to find that the rest of the group had already weakened the Fire Nation forces quite a bit. It really only takes an hour to finish them off. A number of us gather in the throne room.

"Where do we go from here, Dad?" Katara asks as she walks in, bringing a tray of tea.

"I don't know. We have the Capital and we have a warship. The warship isn't much though." he answers as he sips his tea.

"I expected more, but they seem to be holding a perimeter around the city. Five miles out. They'll stay that way so long as they don't know we're here." Zuko states as she lies on the table.

"I've been studying the blueprints and I have reached a conclusion." I say slowly. Every head in the room pops up at my words, even Momo's. "They are weak on the side, where most of the working parts are. It wouldn't take much to take them down."

"Is that necessary at this point?" Aang asks. I think it over for a moment. The room is silent, unnaturally so.

"It might not be. We can get into Ba Sing Se and take down the Fire Lord, but that doesn't stop anyone else from directing them towards their own goals." I reply. "We can't just attack Ba Sing Se, we need more.

"Direct the forces at the colonies." Zuko says from where she is positioned. She continues when she sees the looks of confusion. "The forces routed there are the ones that would defend Ba Sing Se. Then we just fly in and secure the city."

"I should take input from the others." Dad says. We see the cue to leave before As we walk out Zuko tugs on my arm.

"Come with me, I want to show you my favorite place here." she says. I allow her to drag me out, not that I can complain about spending time with her.


End file.
